You know what I hate when I see pictures of children in fashion magazines? Their weird little hands. Those hideous pinky fingers, all gnarled like demon claws? I despise them. So when Jezebel’s Jenna Sauers’ pointed out the opulent editing in Mario Testino’s portrait of Kate Moss and her daughter, Lila Grace, for Vogue‘s September issue, I was relieved. No one wants to look at children’s fingers. They’re covered in paste and mascarpone and whatever children touch.

Look, clearly that is a visual representation of the bond between mother and child that endures even after they separate at the end of childbirth. They are blending together as one being. The child is emerging from her mother. Both, at once. This is a beautiful and complex commentary on motherhood. It’s not about sticky fingers!

Ashley Cardiff

A++

James

@MNim

You are right as rain on your commentary of this photo op., but seriously, if the child being photographed for this historic look at bonding between mother and daughter, has fingers…shouldn’t the fingers of the child be allowed to be in the photograph with the mother and child?

Give me a break. This photograph was not made to remind this mother of this psychological bonds between mother and child. It was produced to earn the dope head mother some “bank” for her nose habit.

Children should be allowed to have fingers photographed!

Above written tongue in cheek, unless there is a photo op later for my mom and I, and they decide that children should not be photographed…with tongues in their cheeks!

Elizabeth

beautifully said MNiM!!

Stew

Mnim. thats ridiculous, if that was Testino’s desired context, Im sure it would have been more obvious !! (i.e not the slightest blur of a finger, at the edge of the image where people dont really look at first)

Think about it, you speak so confidently.

I hate people like you that look for more context than is necessary, this to me, in my opinion, is purely a technical error !!

Suzanne

What about the erect body part inserted at the bottom of her hair, on the right? Reminds me of such things that are added into Disney cartoons to sexualise the content.

Put here to sex-up the picture no doubt. Don’t people notice these things?

Grace

Pretty sure that’s her mom’s boob…

Mikko

On the Vogue you can actually see daughter’s fingers http://bit.ly/p6GInc Oddly, not for instance on the Guardian’s (UK) slideshow of the same series. I wonder if other’s got distributed a different set http://bit.ly/oSc00d

Stew

And if that was the case, wouldn’t kate be transitioning into her daughter as well !!

Golightly

It looks like an obvious photoshop mistake. I really bad mistake. I wonder what Anna Wintour has to say. Especially since she’s a perfectionist.